The last stop on our “Island Hopper” group tour to finish off our first week in Thailand would be Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi, pronounced “pee-pee”, (yes, have a giggle) is part of a small chain of islands just south of and administratively belonging to Krabi province. Koh Phi Phi Don (the main inhabited island) and Koh Phi Phi Lee are the most well known. You may have heard of Phi Phi only because it made the news when in 2004 a deadly tsunami hit the island and took as many as 4000 lives, though the exact number to this day is unclear. I didn’t remember this information and when we arrived into the bay at Phi Phi Don, and I was enamored. Koh Phi Phi’s beauty is simply unparalleled; stunning craggy, limestone cliffs, covered in emerald green jungle and surrounded by sparkling turquoise waters. This place is exactly what you imagine when you think of paradise.

Ferry ride from Krabi mainland to Koh Phi Phi

I love being on the ocean and watching the sea

First glimpses of Koh Phi Phi Lee

Main Pier in Phi Phi

The crowded “main street” upon arrival in Phi Phi

After a two hour voyage from Ao Nang in Krabi province across the deep indigo waters of the Andaman sea, on a big, modern ferry, we disembarked onto a very large and exceptionally crowded pier. We waited with the group under the blazing sun awaiting our tour guide to confirm passage to our hotel. We were given 30 minutes to explore Phi Phi Don’s main port while our baggage was transferred and boats were readied. The main pier was completely overwhelming. There was a giant McDonald’s next to a 7-Eleven at the main entrance and the crowds were reminiscent of being at an outdoor music festival. There were so many people, mostly backpackers, searching for lunch, getting tattoos, bartering for souvenirs, booking tours, and just hanging out. My relaxed vibe gained in Krabi was suddenly depleting and I didn’t want a repeat of the overwhelmed feeling I had in Phuket. We waited in a long lineup to get water and beer in the 7-Eleven (the tour guide warned us that things would be pricier in Phi Phi due to it’s remote location and suggested the liquor might be cheaper to buy here than at the hotel) and headed back to the pier. We were all a bit shocked, suddenly recalling that we’d been told Phi Phi has no cars, as we saw our luggage all piled into two traditional Thai wooden long tail boats. Our group was then ushered into two more boats to get to our hotel. A short boat ride down the coast, we arrived at our hotel to check in – on the beach. This was a first for me. The boat crew literally unloaded our luggage onto the hotel beach. We took off our shoes, rolled up our pants and held our camera bags above our heads as we disembarked the boat and waded to shore to collect our luggage.

The long tail boats waiting to take ferry passengers to their hotels.

Our “taxi” to the hotel

definitely a first

Check-in is literally beside the beach…

After checking into a unique hotel built up into the hillside, we went to the beach-side hotel restaurant for lunch and took in the stunning views of the bay and adjacent Koh Phi Phi Lee. The sand was soft and white, the beach was fairly clean and quiet and the water was still and shallow. After lunch, we joined the group for an afternoon swim at one of the hotels three stunning private beaches. We floated in the warm, shallow bay, had some drinks from the beach snack shack and watched an entertaining resident dog play fetch with some backpackers. On the way back to the room to clean up to go for dinner I had a bit of time to get some sunset photos from our view of the bay. I also discovered the MASSIVE millipedes that hang around here. I’m not sure if they’re harmless, but they’re slow. I’d rather hang out with one of these guys than the giant Asian wasps I’d heard about while doing bug research before the trip. Just be sure to have your phone’s flashlight handy for your nighttime walk back to your room, if you don’t want to step on a sausage sized centipede….

the long climb up and down from the beach to our room and back

the breathtaking views from the lookout at the hotel

Lunch view

paradise

This pad thai tho….

Private beach after lunch

This beach tho…

Hibiscus

Bouganvillea

Plumeria

“Girl on Swing”

Headed back to the room to get ready for dinner, the bay below is gorgeous at sunset

Sunset is stunning.

For dinner, we met up with the group again and headed up at a rooftop bar in town. The walk to the main tourist area from the hotel was about 15 minutes. The evening was busy with lots of shops and restaurants to chose from, but not as bad as I’d feared from the pier earlier in the day. There was a definite party vibe in the area, and it was more crowded that Krabi, but still had a more relaxed, island vibe that Phuket. The lack of cars and traffic keeps the noise down and the general feeling less frenetic. The majority of the tour group planned to go to the “beach party” that night after dinner. Shawn and I decided to at least check it out just to say we’d been but we’d heard enough stories about the spiked drinks, druggings and just plain insane partying that we knew that wasn’t the kind of fun we were seeking. After walking along the beach and checking out the beginnings of what would be a long, debaucherous night for some, we left and strolled through town to see what there was to see.

We eventually found ourselves at a bar hosting Muay Thai boxing. They had tourists volunteer to spar with each other for one round and then actual Muay Thai professionals would have a match in between. They protected the volunteer tourists well with padded head wear and safety gear and the minute it became apparent that a fight was ill matched, they’d call it and reward both the participants with a medal and a beer; it was all in good fun. Shawn was so excited about the Muay Thai, he put his hand up while they were calling for volunteers. For a moment I considered putting my wifely foot down, but we had three travel health insurance plans (two employer provided and a third required as part of the tour package), Phi Phi has a small hospital, and this was Shawn’s epic vacation too- if he wanted to walk around with a black eye or a busted nose, who was I to stop him? Luckily for me (and probably for him) with him being a bit smaller than most the the other guys there that night, the bar didn’t have anyone in his weight class to match him up with. As consolation, one of the boxers posed for photos with him. We enjoyed the matches, some cold Thai beer to ease the heat of the night and had a great time with tourists from New York who we shared our table with.

took me a minute to figure out the red bowl is to scoop water into the toilet to flush…

Shawn posing for photos after being declined a Muay Thai fight

After a few more drinks and exploring, we walked back to our hotel along the gorgeous moonlight sand, climbed way up to our hotel room atop the hill, avoiding stepping on giant millipedes as we walked, and had a great sleep with the islands resident monkeys calling out to each other in the night. Little did I know, we’d meet the monkeys in the morning.

Have you been to the stunning island of Phi Phi? What did you think of it? Plans to travel to Thailand and wondering where to visit? Feel free to ask questions or comment! Thanks as always for coming by and stay tuned for more Thailand rambles. Until next time, safe and happy travels!

-L